Team Description
Mississippi State University (MSU) first became involved in advanced vehicle technology competitions (AVTCs) during the four-year ChallengeX competition in 2004, followed by EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge. Now in Year Three of EcoCAR 2: Plugging in to The Future, the team is in its 10th year of AVTCs. The MSU EcoCAR 2 team has 81 members representing 26 different areas of study. Currently, the team is comprised of six sub-groups: mechanical, electrical, controls, centerstack, business, and communications.

Vehicle DesignThe team’s selected architecture is called a Series Parallel Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV). MSU’s series-parallel PHEV will switch between operating as a series and a parallel hybrid. The team’s vehicle will be capable of recharging from the electric grid. The vehicle will drive using the electric motor until the battery has been depleted. At this point, the engine will begin powering the car and maintaining the battery and the car will function as an extended range electric vehicle. This design will allow the car to drive more like a conventional vehicle and not suffer from the limited range associated with EVs. The vehicle will be fueled by ethanol, or E85, and electricity. It will use energy taken from the electric grid through plug-in charging to propel it for the first 60 miles. Its electric powertrain consists of a lithium-ion battery donated by A123 Systems and a UQM 145 kW permanent-magnet, brushless DC traction motor. Once the battery is depleted, the vehicle’s turbocharged GM 1.4 L engine will power the wheels, providing extended range. Both the electric traction motor and the engine will transmit their power to the wheels through a six-speed automatic transmission. This architecture will allow an all-electric range, which is crucial in reducing oil dependency, and offer a very high efficiency once the battery is depleted and the car is running on liquid fuel.